19 November 2014

iPhone 5 vs. Samsung Galaxy

Today I have a great post for you from the lovely Ash over at The Grits Blog. She's hanging out on my sidebar this month and she wanted to share with you the biggest differences between the iPhone 5 and the Samsung Galaxy. If you haven't checked out her space yet, you need to ASAP. She has some great tutorials, some tasty recipes and is an excellent designer (for example- she did my newest layout!) Go say hello!

Hey! I am Ash from The Grits Blog. Today, Rebekah is letting me take over her awesome space. I thought it might be fun to talk about the ten biggest differences I noticed when I made my switch from an iPhone to a Galaxy (a choice that I am still glad I made). If I am missing anything get at me on twitter! I would love to hear from you!

Not sure if you know this - BUT I made the big switch from an iPhone to a Samsung Galaxy S5 a few weeks ago. I am sure that some of you are like - TRAITOR but I had to make the switch. My iPhone was dying at 50% and there was no way I was going back to one after that crappy experience I had with my iPhone5. Do I plan on going to back to an iPhone ever? Yeah, probably - I miss the picture editing apps and the iTunes.

That being said, I really do love my Galaxy. There are a lot more things that I can do on my Galaxy that I couldn't do on my iPhone...like for one video editing, scheduled night mode. So today, I am here to layout out the ten biggest differences that I noticed right away between my iPhone and Galaxy s5.

(1) Night mode

I used night mode all the time with my iPhone so when I switched to a Galaxy that was one of the first things that I searched for. The problem was, I couldn't find it - that's when my good friend google came into play.

Night mode on the galaxy is called blocking mode. Blocking mode is actually found under settings, then personalization.

What makes blocking mode so unique is that I can set it to only run during certain times, only allow certain people (contacts) to break through blocking mode, and that I have the option to block incoming calls, turn off notifications, and turn off alarm and timer. I like having these options - options that weren't available on my iPhone (and if they were I didn't know about it).

(2) No FaceTime

This is a feature that I really miss and am learning to get over. Helllloooo more snapchatting and gliding. Have you heard of the Glide app? It's video text messaging - it's pretty awesome, check it out if you haven't already. My Uncle Mark thinks it's lame but whatevs, I like it.

(3) Fast menu from top instead of bottom

All I have to do is swipe down from the top and I instantly have access to wi-fi, location, volume options, screen rotation, bluetooth, and settings. I also have an ear phone jack at the top - I like that a lot more too.

If I remember correctly, there was a fast menu at the bottom on the iPhone. Just wanted to point out that there was a fast menu on the Galaxy too.

(4) Water Resistant

Do I even need to write anything here? I mean water resistant says it all.

(5) Swipe MessagingSacrificing face-time was well worth it when I figured out I could swipe text. This means that I don't actually have to type anymore, I literally just glide my finger across the letters I am wanting to type and voila text is written.

Love.

This.

To be honest, I am amazed at what it translates. For example, I will be trying to swipe dog food but will start my swipe on a s and just kind of run my thumb all over the keyboard and it magically knows exactly what I am wanting.

Magic.

Harry Potter style magic.

(6) Led light indicator for new activity or messages

I love, love, love, love this little feature. Every time I had my iPhone on silent I never knew, without clicking the round button, if I had text or not. Now, I can tell by just my looking at the front of the phone. There is a different color light for different kind of alerts - text, email, etc.

(7) Free Ringtones

I like to have songs for my ringtones. When I had my iPhone I was limited to whatever came on the phone unless I wanted to pay for a custom ringtone. Wellllll with my Galaxy I don't have to deal with that anymore. I downloaded this free music app called Ocean Music Pro, download whatever song I want, and set it as my free ringtone (I will be posting a tutorial on how to do this).

In case you are wondering, my current tone is sitting on the dock of the bay by Otis Redding.

(8) SD Card

This is my all time most favorite feature of my Galaxy.

I can add storage space to my phone.

FINALLY.

When I had my iPhone I was ALWAYS running out space - whether it be due to pictures, apps, music - what have you. Now, that's no longer a problem. I just install a little micro SD card and wabam! MORE STORAGE!! Yes, you guys it's as simple as that.
Another cool feature that I like is that I can move storage from my phone storage to my SD card storage. I can do this with pictures, apps, whatever. Cool right?

(9) Photo Apps

I see all of these posts by bloggers about these amazing apps but when I go to download them, I find out that I can't use them on a Galaxy. #DEPRESSED

(10) No podcast on Samsung Galaxy

I love to listen to Podcasts but I can't figure out how to do that on a Galaxy. My favorite were Fresh Air (an NPR interview type podcast, it's awesome0 and Dave Ramsey.

Have you switched your phone lately?

If so, what's been your favorite feature?

Do you know of any podcasting apps that are available for the Galaxy?

And on a different note I'm participating in a pretty awesome giveaway that you all should enter!